Peter Bell (15 July 1889 – 22 September 1939) was a German teacher who became a

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...

politician and functionary. He served as the ''

Bürgermeister Burgomaster (alternatively spelled burgermeister, ) is the English form of various terms in or derived from Germanic languages for the chief magistrate or executive of a city or town. The name in English was derived from the Dutch . In so ...

'' of

Viechtach Viechtach is a town in the district of Regen in Bavaria in Germany. It is situated on the river Schwarzer Regen, 31 km northeast of Straubing Straubing (; Central Bavarian: ''Strauwing'') is an independent city in Lower Bavaria, southern ...

, and sat as a deputy in the '' Reichstag'' from 1933 until his death.

Early life

Bell was born at

Metz Metz ( , , , then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle (river), Moselle and the Seille (Moselle), Seille rivers. Metz is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Moselle (department), Moselle Departments ...

in Alsace-Lorraine and attended the ''

Volksschule The German term ''Volksschule'' () generally refers to compulsory education, denoting an educational institution every person (i.e. the people, ''Volk'') is required to attend. In Germany and Switzerland it is equivalent to a combined primar ...

'' in

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

, followed by the ''Realprogymnasium'' in Cologne-Nippes and the ''

Realgymnasium ''Gymnasium'' (; German plural: ''Gymnasien''), in the German education system, is the most advanced and highest of the three types of German secondary schools, the others being ''Hauptschule'' (lowest) and ''Realschule'' (middle). ''Gymnas ...

'' in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

and in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

. From 1911 to 1914, he studied German, history and French at the Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich. In 1914, he volunteered for military service with the 1st Royal Bavarian Infantry Regiment and fought in the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

until 1918. In 1920, Bell received his

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

at the

Technical University of Munich The Technical University of Munich (TUM or TU Munich; ) is a public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. It specializes in engineering, technology, medicine, and applied and natural sciences. Established in 1868 by King Ludwig II ...

. He became a senior teacher in

Zweibrücken Zweibrücken (; ; , ; literally translated as "Two Bridges") is a town in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Schwarzbach (Blies), Schwarzbach River. Name The name ''Zweibrücken'' means 'two bridges'; older forms of the name include Middl ...

in 1922, but was expelled from the Palatinate in February 1923 by the French occupation authorities. He became a senior teacher at the ''

Realschule Real school (, ) is a type of secondary school in Germany, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It has also existed in Croatia (''realna gimnazija''), the Austrian Empire, the German Empire, Denmark and Norway (''realskole''), Sweden (''realskola''), F ...

'' in

Cham Cham or CHAM may refer to: Ethnicities and languages *Chams, people in Vietnam and Cambodia **Cham language, the language of the Cham people ***Cham script *** Cham (Unicode block), a block of Unicode characters of the Cham script * Cham Albani ...

, in the

Upper Palatinate The Upper Palatinate (; , , ) is an administrative district in the east of Bavaria, Germany. It consists of seven districts and 226 municipalities, including three cities. Geography The Upper Palatinate is a landscape with low mountains and nume ...

from April 1923.Peter Bell biography
in th
''Reichstag'' Members Database
/ref>

Nazi Party career

On 1 March 1931, Bell joined the

(membership number 519,175). He was elected as a deputy to the '' Reichstag'' from electoral constituency 25,

Lower Bavaria–Upper Palatinate Lower Bavaria–Upper Palatinate was one of the 35 electoral districts () used to elect members to the Reichstag during the Weimar Republic. It sent members to the Reichstag in nine democratic elections between 1919 and 1933. It existed nominally ...

in November 1933 and held this seat until his death.Peter Bell entry
in th
''Reichstag'' Members Database
/ref> He also became a member of the Cham city council. From 1933 to 1936, Bell was the Party ''

Kreisleiter (; "District A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several mu ...

'' (county leader) and ''

'' (mayor) of

, where he also served as chairman of the

Regentalbahn AG The Regentalbahn (''Regentalbahn AG – Die Länderbahn'') is railway company based in Bavaria, and is owned by Ferrovie dello Stato and the Luxembourg infrastructure fund ''Cube'', through the German holding company of Netinera. It runs railway ...

supervisory board. From 1933, he was a member of the ''

Kreistag In 13 German states, the primary administrative subdivision higher than a '' Gemeinde'' (municipality) is the () or (). Most major cities in Germany are not part of any ''Kreis'', but instead combine the functions of a municipality and a ''K ...

'' (district council) of Lower Bavaria–Upper Palatinate. In addition, he later became head of the Gau Border Office of the Gau Bavarian Ostmark. From April 1937, he was the head of the ''Realschule'' at

Neuburg an der Donau Neuburg an der Donau (Central Bavarian: ''Neiburg an da Donau'') is a town which is the capital of the Neuburg-Schrobenhausen district in the state of Bavaria in Germany. Divisions The municipality has 16 divisions: * Altmannstetten * Bergen, N ...

. Concurrently, he was the Bavarian regional leader of the ''

Bund Deutscher Osten The Bund Deutscher Osten (BDO; English: "Federation of the German East") was an anti-Polish German Nazi organisation founded on 26 May 1933. The organisation was supported by the Nazi Party. The BDO was a national socialist version of the German ...

'', an anti-Polish

irredentist Irredentism () is one state's desire to annex the territory of another state. This desire can be motivated by ethnic reasons because the population of the territory is ethnically similar to or the same as the population of the parent state. Hist ...

society. Bell died in September 1939 at Neuburg an der Donau.

References

Sources

*Joachim Lilla; Martin Doring; Andreas Schulz (Editors): Statisten in Uniform: Die Mitglieder des Reichstags 1933–1945. Ein biographisches Handbuch. Unter Einbeziehung der völkischen und nationalsozialistischen Reichstagsabgeordneten ab Mai 1924. Droste Verlag, Dusseldorf 2004, .
Peter Bell biography
in the Reichstag Members Database. *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bell, Peter 1889 births 1939 deaths 20th-century German educators German Army personnel of World War I Kreisleiter Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich alumni Mayors of places in Germany Members of the Reichstag 1933–1936 Members of the Reichstag 1936–1938 Members of the Reichstag 1938–1945 Nazi Party politicians Politicians from Metz Politicians from Alsace-Lorraine Technical University of Munich alumni